Terry_Tate;1869733 wrote:Both of these things can be true - The receivers did not do a good job of getting separation, and also JT Barrett straight up missed some throws.
It seems like the biggest problem is either one or the other happens every play for stretches of several drives. During the Clemson game it was for 4 quarters, and for last night it was the first half. Dixon dropped a first down pass that might have helped get the offense in rhythm at one point, Campbell dropped the deep touchdown pass that was perfectly thrown, as well as another pass that I can remember, but also Barrett had several times where he didn't put the ball where it could be caught. Zone 6 continues to be the most overrated(overhyped?) unit on the team though.
It seems like Barrett needs to get a few carries in and he settles down as a passer for some reason. Maybe it's just finding his element or the defense adjusting for him running, but either way it seemed like things started to click last night when he started keeping the ball more instead of just doing handoffs to Dobbins.
The defense gave up a ton of yards through the air, but Cobbs and their other WR were damn good last night, and also it doesn't help when the offense can't get anything going and Indiana keeps trotting back out there on offense.
Either way, first game of the year on the road in B1G play against what seems like a decent Indiana team, can't ask for perfection. Hopefully the offense won't take a half to get going against Indiana.
That's one thing I noticed. Early on, when the offense was at its worst, Barrett wasn't running. When he started running, whether it was forcing the defense to adjust to that or him getting in a groove because he was using all his tools, the offense started clicking. It's something I don't understand about their play-calling, because I've seen it a lot in recent years. You have a mobile quarterback, which means that his legs are a part of his game, but you'll go stretches where you try to make him a pocket passer, which is some square peg, round hole shit.
Still, he wound up with a good game that would have been great if those drops were caught. And opening the season with a road game against a decent (if not actually good) league rival isn't the easiest way to start out. Just rebounding from a shaky first half to be dominant in the second is a good sign, as far as I'm concerned. Now they just need to build on that to take on Oklahoma, since they'll need two good halves there.
